Bond Protector only for the Retrenched!

I am extremely unhappy with Ooba and Hollard. I’ve been paying my premiums for 7 years on a bond protector plan (sold by Ooba, underwritten by Hollard) but now that I have been forced to claim because I lost my full income due to the nationwide lockdown, their outcome was just “sorry, we only cover for retrenchments. Regardless of the terminology used...whether it be temporarily laid off, or retrenched...I am unable to earn an income, for an uncertain period of time.

I found out yesterday, that not only am I not getting a salary for April...I am also not able to go back to work in May. This means two months already without income.

Businesses are using the temporary lay off term, because there is no financial responsibility for them to pay out which would be the case of retrenchments.

If I were retrenched, at least I would get some form of income. With temporary lay-offs...it is much worse. We don’t get any. We can’t even claim our rightful UIF contributions. Only TERS. And then insurance companies also use this as a way out of having to pay out. This is shameful.

I am writing this message on Hello Peter as a last resort to get a response from Hollard or Ooba Insure, before I lodge a complaint to the Ombudsman.